


The Comeback Kids

by locamocha483



Category: Sally Face (Video Games)
Genre: Afterlife, Death, Execution, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Original Character(s), Prison, Salarry, Sally Face - Freeform, Spoilers, sally face spoilers, sort of graphic depictions of death, spoilers for chapter 4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-15
Updated: 2019-03-15
Packaged: 2019-11-17 21:45:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18107087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/locamocha483/pseuds/locamocha483
Summary: Sal Fisher, aka the Sally Face Killer, is on death row and awaiting his execution. When the day finally comes, he's greeted by some very strange characters, both in life and in death.





	The Comeback Kids

**Author's Note:**

> This was based on a random and accidental RP between a friend and I and I had the urge to write it out into a full-fledged one shot. It originally had the two of us interacting heavily on the main characters but I made a lot of changes so it flowed a little better. There ARE original/self-insert characters because of this, but they're only there to help move the characters along with the plot. ALSO LISA AND HENRY NEVER GOT TOGETHER!! Hope you enjoy it nonetheless!

Three years. Three years he had been preparing for this day. Every day that passed and he lived was another day he was left alone with his thoughts and memories. He’d beg the guards for his final sentence to be executed, but every time they would tell him “they’re not ready for you yet.” Some days he would get so fed up with the waiting he would attempt to go through with the sentence himself, only to be caught and thrown into the psych ward for a week.

It had been three years since his trial. He’d been found guilty of mass murder. Killing a single person is no small feat, but to kill 1 5  people in one night? Nobody in the town of  Nockfell  had heard of such a catastrophe, let alone witnessed it happen. In the small town, murder wasn’t unheard of, but it wasn’t common either. The last murder had been 7 years prior, but was quickly solved and swept under the rug for the most part. Teenagers had gone missing two years after that and were never found, so everyone presumed they were dead. But the mass murder of everybody living in the apartments was a story the whole state was tuning into.

Since his trial, he’d kept a low profile. He rarely ever left his cell, only ever spoke to himself and the “voices in his head” he still claimed to be Jim and Terrence, only ever ate enough to keep himself alive. Every day he would beg and pray that it would be the day his sentence would be brought to fruition.

Sal Fisher, the Sally Face Killer, wanted to die as soon as possible. And he didn’t want to come back as a ghost.

Sal knew he couldn’t save his friend Todd, who was still in the hospital possessed by whatever the cult did to him on that fateful night. He couldn’t count on Ashley to save him even though she kept vowing she would. He couldn’t talk to Larry’s ghost even because he was stuck in the treehouse where he’d poisoned himself. He didn’t have anybody. Everybody else was dead.

So, when two burly guards came to his cell and clasped the cuffs around his wrists, he knew he would finally get what he deserved.

“Inmate #081486, you’ve been scheduled for execution at 5 o’clock this afternoon. We’ll be taking you to the waiting cell for your last meal and to finalize your information.” Sal nodded, a little too enthusiastically, and allowed the guards to lead him to a part of the prison he’d never been in before. The walls were white and untouched like they had just been redone, but the dust settling on the bottom trim said otherwise. The florescent lights above them as they walked down the halls seemed to scream into their eyes. It made Sal a little glad the prison had confiscated his glass eye as soon as he had arrived. His mask did little to protect his one good eye, but at this point he didn’t care.

The guards led Sal into a room that held nothing but a desk littered with papers and a briefcase and two chairs. In one chair sat a man in a finely pressed suit and slicked back hair that held too much gel.

“Ah, Sally face! It truly is a marvel to be meeting you. I’m Peter Hickory,  Nockfell  Prison’s resident coroner. I’ll be taking care of your final meal wishes, final statements, setting up the room, et cetera et cetera. Please, have a seat!” Hickory gestured towards the second chair across from his spot at the desk, and Sal obeyed. His mask left him with a constant deadpan stare that nobody could ever decipher (except maybe for Larry) which helped hide the fact he was unamused by how eerily cheery Peter was. “Now, first thing’s first; we need you to decide what your final meal will be. Once you’ve made that request, we’ll send it in and get it prepared for you while we go over a few more things.” He kept rambling on about information Sal already had given to the lawyers, court, guards, and now coroner several hundred times. It was exhausting to say the least, but he didn’t have to speak for the majority of it so he went along with the procedures.

Sal requested a single slice of pizza from his favorite joint in town as his final meal. He’d debated on asking for a bologna sandwich since he felt like he didn’t deserve anything good in this place, but even he thought that was a bit much. He'd already been planning on asking for a more inhumane death, and had been practically starving himself for the past three years. He figured that even if he didn’t deserve it, a small bit of his favorite food wouldn’t hurt.

Once Peter was done with all the questions, he stuffed all the papers into his briefcase and stood up to leave Sal alone with his meal to eat in peace.

“I assume you can’t eat with the mask on, and that it would be difficult to eat with just the bottom half undone, so I’ll leave you to eat and relax in here for the next hour or so. If anybody comes to visit you during this time, we’ll come to let you know.” The coroner smiled, wrinkles forming at the corners of his eyes that made him seem more like a greedy sleaze ball than he already probably was, and turned to leave.

“Wait,” Sal finally said after being silent the majority of the time he’d been stuck in the washed-out room. Peter turned to look at him. He was visibly uncomfortable from hearing Sal speak, but he listened to what he had to say. “I have one more request.”

“O-oh really?” Beads of sweat started forming at the man’s forehead. “Please, tell me.”

Without hesitation, Sal got the words out of his mouth. The request hung in the air like a noose. It made Peter, the guards, and even the nosy employees attempting to listen outside of the room extremely uncomfortable.

“You...you want the electric chair?”

“Yes.”

“B-but why? That’s so...harsh and inhumane and violent and-”

“I’m aware of how awful the electric chair is in terms of a death sentence. I don’t believe I deserve a quick and easy death by lethal injection. It wouldn’t be fair justice to the crime I committed. I deserve a harsh death for a harsh crime.” He let those words settle in the air again as Peter stared on in horror. “I would like to request the electric chair for my death sentence,” he reiterated.

The coroner shook his head out of his stunned trance before turning away again. “Okay. I’ll...I’ll place that request in. I’ll see what I can do.” 

The door clicked shut behind Peter as he left the room. The two guards in the room keeping an eye on Sal stood like statues; silent and still, terrified out of their minds. They’d dealt with murderers before, but this kid was some kind of sick psycho in their minds. They gave each other similar looks of nervousness, but kept their post until a third guard came in with Sal’s meal.

“Enjoy it while you can, kid.”

All three guards exited the room together and locked the door behind them. Sal didn’t plan on attempting to escape. He didn’t plan on trying to kill himself in the room, which he could have done but there would be no point. He didn’t want to try anything funny. All he wanted was to eat his pizza and die in the horrific way he deserved.

He waited a few minutes before proceeding to unbuckle and take off his prosthetic. If he was going to let himself indulge in one thing before dying, it would be eating pizza with his face completely free. Sal picked up the slice off the plate and took his time to enjoy it. The smell of the sauce, cheese, and meats cooked together on freshly baked crust, lightly seasoned in herbs and spices, was more than enough for him to feel full. But he took a bite anyway and was instantly taken back to his high school days.

Sal hadn’t eaten a decent meal in the three years he’d been in the prison. Even if he  _ had _  felt like he deserved food, the meals weren’t even from a 3-star restaurant. He was given special meal privileges due to the horror from the bologna incident, but that didn’t mean much in terms of food choices or quality. Having his favorite food for the first time in years brought tears to his eye.

In high school, Sally and his friends would often visit the pizza joint together after school to hang out, help each other with homework, and just have a grand old time. Afterwards, he and Larry would sneak behind the building and share a real joint. Sally only ever smoked with Larry. He wasn’t too big into it. But being with Larry made it fun and relaxing. Larry made everything more fun.

Larry. His best friend. His companion. The most important person in the world to Sal.

Sal’s tears started flowing harder, mixing with the leftover pizza grease on the corner of his mouth. His shoulders shook harder and harder as Sal continued to cry. He ended up dropping the remainder of the pizza slice back onto the plate and resting his head in his hands. He hadn’t cried this much since the night of the murders. His murders. The same night Larry poisoned himself and died. The same night that Larry was supposed to move in with Sal, Todd, and Neil.

Sal cried, not because he was about to die, nor because Larry was dead. He’d done enough crying for the latter enough times. Sal cried because he knew that he wouldn’t get to come back as a ghost. He knew he wouldn’t get to see Larry in the afterlife. There was no afterlife for Sal. He didn’t deserve to see anybody. Even if he did get into the afterlife, he’d be stuck here. In prison. For all eternity. He wouldn’t get to see anybody besides other criminals who had also been sentenced to death.

He kept thinking about the days where he and Larry would have their smoke breaks behind the pizza joint. They’d be passing the folded papers to each other and sit against the walls. The smell from the smoke mixed with the garbage bins nearby so nobody would be the wiser. They’d giggle and joke around and talk about everything and nothing. Those were times where Sally could really see and focus on Larry’s features. His straight long nose, the bags under his eyes that seemed to get slightly smaller every year they were together, the beauty mark on his high cheekbone, gap between his two front teeth that would whistle if he laughed hard enough. There were so many things about Larry that Sally adored.

He raised his head from his hands.  There were tears left over in his palms, but he didn’t make an effort to wipe them away.

“I should have told him then...” he whispered to himself.

He was given an hour to eat and have visitors, but of course nobody came. The only person he could even think of who would visit him was Ashley, but she’d been AFK of sorts since the trial. He’d heard she’d been trying to find ways to free him, but all of her attempts failed. After testifying against Sal in his trial, even with her outbursts of trying to convince everyone he was “sick” and “needed help”, Sal had lost hope in her. 

Sal had already cleared his plate and put his mask back on by the time the door opened again. Two guards led Peter into the room who was back to having a creepy smile on his face.

“Good news, Sally Face! Your request for the chair was approved! They’re getting it set up for you now in the chamber. Should only be another twenty minutes or so until it’s ready. The chair hasn’t been used in a decade so it’s taking longer than usual to get it ready, but it should be in working shape still!” Sal rolled his eye, looking down enough so the coroner wouldn’t see behind the mask, and nodded. “I’ll come back to let you know when we’re ready for you.” Peter left again, presumably to check on the death chamber but Sal could also imagine the creep jacking off to inmate deaths.

The guards stayed inside the room by the door, chatting for the time being. The conversation was white noise to Sal as he stayed confined behind the mask and in his thoughts. His min drifted off  to  many things, but he would always come back home to Larry. That man was always his grounding point. If he ever had a nightmare, Larry was there to comfort him. If he was having a depressive episode or anxiety attack, Larry would take his mind off of things. But he wasn’t here anymore so he had to fight his battles alone.

Twenty-two minutes on the dot was as much time as Sal got to ground himself with thoughts of his best friend and how he would handle the situation,  were  he here. Peter practically skipped into the room, face flushed and a bible in his hands. Ah, so he was a bible-jerking sort of fella. That, or he did jack off to inmate deaths and felt the need to repent after every unfertilized sperm hits the wall.

“Sally Face Killer, it’s time.” The guards stepped forward as Sal stood up from his chair. They brought his wrists behind his back and locked the cuffs back on.  _ Right where they belong _ , Sal thought. “Please follow me.”

Sal and the guards were led by Peter down a series of hallways. Apparently, from what the coroner was saying, since the chair hadn’t been used in so long, they needed to clear the old room it used to be stored in while it was still in-use. They also tested it out on a few apples and sandwiches to make sure it was still working. Every apple blew up and the sandwich fried.  _ Good _ , Sal thought.  _ Maybe my brain will melt out of my ears. _

The final hallway seemed to be never-ending. It felt like the walls were constantly stretching themselves long and longer so Sal couldn’t get to the final destination. But eventually, they made it. The door opened to an old room with water damage stains at every corner. It seemed to be a room used to hold old equipment now, but most of the items had either been removed or shoved to one side of the room. Classy.

In the middle, though, sat a large wooden chair with a metal hat hanging just above and restraints on the arms and legs. Sal was small for an adult, so he may not be able to even lean against the back of the chair, and the hat would have to be lowered more than usual. He expected for this to be uncomfortable. He did not mind at all.

The guards sat him down and unlocked the cuffs from behind Sal’s back. He was right in his theory of having to practically sit at the edge of the chair to be able to fit the restraints. As the door in front of him closed, Sal accepted that this was it. He was ready.

But as he was being strapped into place by the guards, loud and distraught banging could practically be felt in the room. Everyone turned their attention to the door for a moment, but quickly shook it off. Except for Sal. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing, hearing, feeling. A surge of hope flowed through his body for a split second, before remembering that there was nothing even this person could do.

Ash was outside the door, banging on the thick glass and screaming as loud as she could. She was holding up what looked like a polaroid picture from her old camera, but she was too far for Sal to see exactly what it was of.

“WAIT! He was telling the truth! I have proof! Please!”

The lights were dimmed. One of the guards reached behind Sal’s head to unbuckle the prosthetic and remove it from his face. For the first time in his life, Sal let complete strangers see the horror behind his mask. All three grown men jumped back and looked away for a brief moment before accepting that this was the real Sally Face and continuing on with the procedure.

“Sally Face Killer, today is the day you pay for your crimes against the city of  Nockfell . For the murder of 13 people living in Addison Apartments.”

The same guard lowered the metal hat to Sal’s head and made sure it was secure before stepping back. “I’m  gonna  have nightmares about that face for a month,” he whispered to the other uniformed man.

Ash continued to bang on the door, tears starting to form in her eyes.

“You have to wait! Just let me show you what I found!”

Peter cleared his throat before reciting a few short passages from his bible. Sal wasn’t religious so none of the context made any sense. But he kept staring at Ash, who for once was actually trying to be helpful. But he knew deep down that even if the evidence she held in her hand would help his case, nobody would listen to her.

“Sally Face, do you have any last remarks to make?” Sal thought for a moment. He wasn’t going to allow himself to have any final words originally, but with the presence of Ash now, he changed his mind. He had one thing to say, and he could only hope Ash could read his scarred lips. Staring as deep into Ash’s eyes as he could from his distance, he nodded. Ash stopped banging for a moment to watch and attempt to listen.

“Just one.” He saw a single tear fall from Ashley’s eye before he leaned forward and made his statement. “Save. Todd. Save Todd, Ash. Please.”

Sal leaned back to his original spot and closed his eyes. The first guard nudged the second to walk up and place the blindfold on Sal’s face. Sal heard feet shuffling away from him. He heard Ash returning to banging on the door, pleading with the men inside the room.

The guards and coroner placed protecting glasses over their eyes and stood far away from the chair. Peter unlocked a panel on the wall and held onto the lever that would soon activate the chair.

“Sal Fisher...” he said with a grim demeanor. “ _ May God have mercy on your soul _ .”

With that, Peter pulled down the lever and sent electricity throughout Sal’s body.

What came next for Sal was a mixture of both hilarity and paint. The sound of the electricity came before it hit him. The realization that nothing could be done to save his friends or family, no matter what Ash did, gave him a chuckle that could barely be heard over the sound of the currents. His laughing picked up into something almost hysterical as the jolts connected to his brain and sent lightning down his body. His laughing turned to screams of horror at the new feeling, then of pain.

It was hot. Then as more and more bolts kept coursing through his veins it began to burn. He was melting on the inside. It was in his stomach, in his good eye, at his fingertips, in his heart. He could feel his heart stopping, restarting, jumping, the repeating the process.

He saw nothing. Not even the bright blue-white light coming from the chair he sat in.  He tasted blood in his mouth and his vocal chords were zapped raw.  The smell of iron in the remainder of his nose gave clues that he was bleeding from there too, but it also could have been from the old chair since the wood was also being singed and burned along with his body.

All he could hear were the currents, buzzing loudly in his ear, and the screams of himself and an already muffled Ashley just beyond the buzz. She kept pounding on the door as if the coroner was going to listen to her. But from the sound of his grumbled voice before he pulled the switch, it was clear Peter was part of the Devourers of God. There was no hope left.

Even though Sal couldn’t see anything, he felt himself start to drift and blackout. His screaming subsided, his head felt light, his body loosened. Sal’s consciousness faded fast, and within a matter of minutes of the switch being pulled...

…"Time of death is 6:33pm.”

A young man sits in a treehouse. He’s been stuck here for three years, without much company. The last guest he had was Ashley, but she flashed her camera at him and scared him back to the other world. Ghosts don’t like flash photography he quickly learned. A number of investigators had tried coming up to the treehouse for any evidence in the beginning, but quickly left it alone. He was alone until Ash came by.

He kind of hopes she comes again, just without her camera. He needed a friend to talk to.

In the other world, Larry Johnson is able to talk with all his dead friends and family. He’d explained to them all why Sal had to do what he did. Most were understandable, except for Ms. Gibson who still had her reservations about both boys. Henry and Lisa, Larry’s mother and Sal’s father, were possibly the most understanding aside from Chug and Soda who didn’t really know any better. They all loved Sal very much and had no resentment towards him. They all just wished they had had more time to come to terms with their inevitable dooms before Sal came to them on that fateful day.

But for the past year, he’s stayed in his treehouse. He doesn’t come up to the living world much, but likes to stay in the area in his world, away from the others. While Larry loves all his friends, family, and old neighbors, he misses his best friends more than anything.

Todd was possessed by the Red-Eyed Demon, Ashley was alive but in a deep depression trying to save Sal...and Sal...god he missed Sal the most. If he had known earlier that everything was going to happen, he would’ve said something to Sal. He would have pulled Sal to the side and told him there was going to be a shit-storm waiting for him that day. He would have pulled Sal into a tight hug and never let him go.

He probably would’ve confessed what’s been on his mind for the past 9 years.

“- rry .” There’s a voice coming from somewhere in his world, but he can’t pin-point where it’s coming from. “- arry !” The man stood up from his spot and spun around to look behind him. “LARRY!”

He yelped, startled, and fell back onto his rear when he came face to face with two characters screaming for him. Larry caught his breath quickly and stood back up as the two chuckled to themselves.

“What the FUCK guys?! Trying to get me to die a second time?”

“ Haha ,  naw  man. Sorry we scared you,” the first one said. They combed back their bangs out of their eyes with their hand, exposing a large, deep gash behind the fringe. They also have a couple stabs in their stomach, each one a reminder of their demise.

“We’ve just been doing a little snooping and found something out you might like,” said the second. Her long hair is always tied back to expose the slash on the side of her neck. Her stomach also has similar stab wounds and several cuts on her hands. “You’ll REALLY like it!”

“Stop playing games. I haven’t seen you guys in like, a year now. I figured you had your own things to do anyway with the other college kids.”

“We did,  sorta . Bailey,  Seirra , and CJ played a seemingly endless game of Monopoly, until it ended about a week ago. I hung out with Azaria for a good portion of that, but went to see Soda and Megan for a bit too. They miss you a lot, dude.”

“Yeah...I bet they do.” Bailey and Morgan were two friends visiting the other college students living at the apartments at the time of the takeover and had therefore been killed with everyone else. Though, their own story about that night is strange and still leaves everybody questioning their actions. “I promise to come back and say hi to the kiddos soon. Everyone else doing good?”

“Yeah, they are. Lisa says she wants you to come home for a while. She’s right though, you’ve been cooped up here for too long.”

“It’s only been a year! That’s like, an hour at the most in ghost time.”

“True, but still. Moms will be moms!”

“Okay, enough chit chat! We can catch you up on everything later. We NEED to tell you what’s  goin ’ on! It’s super important!”

“Okay,” he sighed. “What’s up?”

“We’ll explain on the way! We don’t have much time.”

“Time for what?”

“You’ll see! Come on!” Both adults grabbed each of Larry’s wrists and pulled him along with them.

“H-Hey wait! We can’t leave the apartments!”

“We can for now! Rosenburg wasn’t able to do this herself with how weak she is, but she got another old friend to give us enough power to leave this area for a little bit...plus a little extra for this mission in particular.”

“Wait, mission? Where the hell  are  we even going?”

“You’ll see!” Bailey rushed ahead to make a path for the group and check the directions for where they were headed to. In theory, it shouldn’t take them very long. But as ghosts, time passes much differently than it does for the living. Morgan let go of Larry as well but stayed close to him to explain things a bit better.

“We all knew Sal was in danger of being prosecuted once the attack happened.  But none of us really have any idea on what happened to him after he got arrested.”

“Ash came by earlier today and said he’s in trouble. She didn’t say what was up, but she flashed her camera at me.”

“ Oof , that’s rough. She should know by now that ghosts like us are sensitive to light.”

“Yeah, but she’s been a skeptic the whole time I’ve known her. Until now, I guess.”

“Well still. She wasn’t wrong. He is in danger.”

“You know what’s up with him?”

“Rosenburg told us while we were snooping around the cult dungeons. Sadly, there’s not much we can do for Sal for now.”

“What do you mean? What’s wrong with him?”

Morgan paused their conversation for a moment. They gave Larry a somber look, then a sad smile crept onto their face. “You’re  gonna  get to see Sal again.” They looked away quickly to see Bailey still creating their path way. “Sal’s on death row and he’s being executed today.”

Larry stopped in his tracks. Death row? Sal’s going to be killed in prison for saving everyone’s souls? Heh, not like the law believes him anyway. But still. He doesn’t deserve to die. He needs to live to save Todd and the rest of the town.  Nockfell  NEEDS Sal!

“ So  I’m guessing you two are taking me to the prison? To see Sal?”

“Yes, but more than just that,” Bailey called out. “Sal’s needed back at the apartments in this world to defeat the red-eyed demon once and for all. It’s the only way to save the town.” She looked over her shoulder at Larry, matching Morgan’s somber expression. “I know It's not easy to see your friends get hurt, especially your best friend whom you love,  bu -”

“Stop.” Larry shut his eyes tight. He didn’t want to hear any more. The news of Sal about to die was already enough, but he didn’t need a reminder of his unrequited feelings. “I-I know you guys are trying to help and I appreciate that. But...” He opened his eyes and looked down at his feet. Dull grass swayed in the breeze through his ankles, and he so desperately wished he was alive so he could lay down and enjoy the dew soaking through to his back and arms again. “Let’s not talk about THAT. Please.” Bailey nodded and continued on with her task. Morgan tugged at Larry’s shirt and got him to start walking with them again.

The group was silent the rest of the way to the prison. Once they arrived, they took careful precautions to not waste the remaining power they were gifted in trying to find the execution room. They needed to save as much as they could to bring Sal back to the apartments. Luckily it wasn’t too hard to find the room. As they reached their destination, they realized they were a bit early. There were two people testing out a wooden chair with a metal hat and cuffs on the arms and legs. Why were they using an electric chair?

“This is it. I overheard one of the guards as we were walking, and apparently Sal requested the chair instead of lethal injection like they use for the rest of the death row inmates.”

_ Wow _ , Larry thought.  _ Badass to the end, huh buddy?  _ The crew sat down on the ground against the walls and waited for Sal’s arrival.

Bailey and Morgan kept a conversation with Larry about what else has been going on outside of the treehouse since Larry took his “me-time” hiatus from everyone. Soda and Megan keep pulling pranks on Chug, who’s still a scaredy-cat even as a ghost. Lisa and Mrs. Sanderson have been catching up, Robert’s been hanging out with Henry to help ease his depression over his son, and of course Ms. Gibson has been a recluse.

Larry was off in another world though. Well, aside from the ghost world that is. His mind kept wandering to Sal and what he would do once he was there. Larry’s stomach kept doing somersaults as he thought about being with his best friend again. Even if they would both be dead, it would give them time to save everyone and hopefully afterwards, continue being as they were. Friends. Best bros. Jam buddies. They’d live at the treehouse together and listen to Sanity Falls every day. They’d watch the stars and be uncles to Soda again. They’d be with their respective families and everything would be okay.

They’d be best friends, and nothing else. Just as it should be...

“Larry?” He snapped out of his thoughts and looked over to Morgan who was next to him. “You okay? You’ve been spacing out since we got here.”

“Yeah! Yeah, I’m...okay.” Both college students looked at him with the utmost doubt. “What?”

“Okay, this is ridiculous.” Bailey crawled over and stared right into Larry’s eyes. “You need to tell him once he gets here.”

“WHAT?!”

“She’s right.”

“MORGAN!”

“Or else WE will tell him for you!”

“BAILEY! GUYS JUST...Stop!! No! He can’t know!”

“Why the hell not?”

“Cause, well, it’s just, eh, not a good time? Don’t we need to get him to the apartments to save everyone? Isn’t this the WORST time to be telling him something like this?”

“You’ve been holding this off for the past 9 YEARS dude! It’s the same excuse every time!”

“You don’t get it! I’ve TRIED! But every time I did, something crazy was going on and he never took it seriously or he took it as if I meant ‘as a friend’ or ‘as a bro’. It’s gone right over his head every single time. He’s never going to understand...” Larry rested his face in his hands and pulled his knees in closer. “He’s not going to feel the same anyway. It’s pointless to tell him at this point.” If ghosts could cry, he’d for sure be filling a swimming pool with his tears. Bailey leaned back on her knees away from Larry, a little pouty but also understanding.

“Dude...you can’t keep this bottled anymore. Even having us as confidents isn’t helping you.”

“Plus, you don’t know for sure if he reciprocates or not! There’s always a possibility that he does.” Bailey looked up to Morgan with knowing looks for a split second before Larry lifted his head again. They knew more secrets than they were letting Larry know. “Even if it’s a bad spot to be in, we technically will have time to come up with a full-fledged plan to defeat the Red-Eyed Demon after we get Sal back home. Plus, the walk back will be long and also I bet Sal will want a break from everything going on before he has to save everyone in  Nockfell .” 

Larry still wasn’t convinced it was good timing. But, then again...would ANY time be good timing?

As he opened his mouth to make a comeback, the three heard footsteps coming down the hall. Thankfully they were still hidden in the ghost world, but it didn’t scare them any less when they saw living people turn the corner towards them. They almost forgot to move out of the way when they saw who in particular was walking. Bailey and Morgan promptly moved to stay flat against the wall and not touch the guards, but Larry stood frozen for almost too long.

His eyes stayed focused on Sal, whom he hasn’t seen in three years. His blue hair was longer than it had ever been, his prosthetic dirty on the outside and scratched up, and looking into the eye sockets he could see Sal was missing his glass eye. Sal hadn’t grown and his body mass hadn’t changed much, but the way he slumped over as he was led to his doom made him look much older than he truly was.

Morgan grabbed Larry’s collar and pulled him against the wall at the last second before the living could pass through him. Thankfully he didn’t cause a gush of cold air. They couldn’t afford the be found out.

“Let’s go. We need to witness this first-hand.” Bailey followed the guards into the room, dragging Larry behind by the sleeve.

“Why did you guys bring me anyway? If Rosenburg got you two to come get him why did you bring me? Isn’t that just more power being used up?”

“Just a little. Rosenburg said Sal needed a close companion to help him to the apartments. He needs to be comforted and feel at ease with death once he gets here. We know how close you two are and knew you’d be the perfect candidate to help Sal, just like you were during the attack.”

The trio watched the scene play out. Sal got locked into the chair, Ash came and started banging on the door, the guard asked Sal for his final words. It hurt Larry to see this play out in front of him, but he kept feeling the nerves in this stomach get worse and worse the closer the time came to see Sal in this world. He didn’t want Sal here, but he also knew this was going to be the only way they could all save their  ity  bity town. And being able to simply talk to him again? Larry felt selfish for this but he couldn’t wait for Sal to die just so they could talk and hug it out again.

“You’re going to tell him, right?” Larry looked over to Bailey who was turned away while the guards removed Sal’s mask. Even in death, the people in Sal's life respected Sal’s privacy of his face. Out of everyone in the vicinity, Larry and Ash were the only ones who’ve seen Sal without his mask. Sal had gotten comfortable not wearing his mask around Larry at times even. “You need to.”

“He’s not going to want to see me if I tell him though. He’s already going to be a wreck once he gets here.”

“He’s going to appreciate you telling him the truth,” Morgan replied. They also had their back turned. “He’s not going to hate you, he’s not going to be disgusted, he’s not going to be too stressed over it. You may not want to tell him immediately as he gets here, but on our way back at least you need to. Who knows what’ll happen after Sal defeats the demon? You may never have another chance. This IS your ‘another’ chance, really.” They gave Larry a playful punch on the shoulder. “Besides, do you really think he’d hate you after rooming with Todd and Neil for several months? Those two were the gayest people in  Nockfell  and he loved them like family. I can’t imagine he’d feel any differently about you if the impossible happens and he doesn’t feel the same.”

Larry had to give a light chuckle to that. They were right. Sal wouldn’t mind. He already knew Larry was bisexual, but Larry never told him who the reason behind his sexuality was. Just that he was. They’d had conversations in the past about each other’s preferences. Sal always assumed he was ace, mostly due to the fact he was always too busy with ghost and cult stuff that he never had time to even think about relationships, but realized he was at least panromantic. Larry was bi-everything. It didn’t matter much to Larry who you were. If he liked you, he liked you with no questions asked. Ashley was probably the only totally straight one in their group.  That wasn’t really what he was afraid of though.

Larry was brought back from his thoughts when a blue-white light started emitting from Sal’s chair. He looked up and instantly wanted to look away. But he didn’t.

Sal’s face was covered only by a blindfold ;  his broken nose and ripped-open mouth and most of his scars were visible. Sal’s screams were blood-chilling, even as hot blood started pooling in his mouth and dripping from his nose. His body jolted and jerked violently in the preceding three minutes it took to fully stop his heart. 

“Sal...” Larry’s shoulders shook and his breath was rugged, as if he were crying, but no tears could fall from his ghostly body. “Please...get here soon.”

When he finally felt himself go, it felt like he was falling asleep. His head became light and his screams came to a sudden stop. The pain slowly let up after those few minutes and unconsciousness took over Sal’s body. The light from the electricity had been visible through the edges of the blindfold, but soon all Sal saw was black. Nothingness. His body seemed to begin to float in an inescapable void.

Yet...he felt oddly at ease with it. He hadn’t expected to feel so at peace with his death even if he thought he had deserved it. It was as if he was greeting an old friend. A friend who tried to take him when he was a child. Back then he refused to go along with it, but now he accepted and agreed to go with the grim reaper. He was ready to face eternity in the black void of death, not even giving it a second thought he might be given the gift of the afterlife. 

But then he heard a voice...and his eyes shot open.

“ Time of death is 6:33pm. Come on boys, let’s get this jackass to the morgue before he starts rotting away.”

“He already smells singed.”

“Gee I wonder why, Frank!”

The guards and the coroner went about their business in cleaning up Sal’s body and the room. Ash slowly sulked away from the door, still crying her eyes out in despair. The world in general felt almost out of reach and looked just about the same. Colors were faded like his ghost friends were. Everything looked just a bit off center, which made Sal a little dizzied. He reached up to place a hand on his face, and was only slightly shocked to find his prosthetic wasn’t there. He felt exposed to the world, but nobody seemed to notice him standing in the middle of the room.

He looked at his physical body and understood. He had been given this gift, but he wondered if it was only for a limited amount of time. Looking at his ragdoll- esque  body that lay limp in the electric chair was a horror in itself. There was blood dripping from his open mouth, the tips of his fingers and hair were blackened, he even had to look away when he saw what became of the rest of his face once the blindfold was taken off. It even scarred one of the guards who nearly puked in response.

Sal sat down on the floor, unsure of what to do. Was he trapped in this room now? Was he able to explore the building like the ghosts at the apartments could in the ghost world? He could only try, but he just needed to sit and process the whole day for a bit.

He didn’t have a bit though.

“Sal?” His head shot up at the familiar voice. What he had at first thought was impossible was now standing in front of him. He  couldn’t hesitate even if he wanted to as he  jumped up from his spot and ran into the arms of his best friend. He tried to cry but found everything but the tears came. That’s okay. He didn’t need to. He just needed the emotions.

“I s this real? ”

“Yeah...yeah buddy, it is.” Sal gripped onto his companion’s shirt and buried his face into Larry’s shoulder.

“I missed you so much,” he said in a broken voice after what felt like  millennia , even if it was only a few minutes.

“I missed you too. It sucks being in the treehouse without you.” Sal pulled away finally and looked up to Larry.

“How DID you manage to get here anyway? Aren’t you supposed to be stuck at the  treehouse ?”

“Yeah, but...maybe these two can explain it better.” Larry gestured over to Morgan and Bailey who gave small waves. Sal went to cover his face on autopilot, but figured he couldn’t keep doing that with everybody in the ghost world and slowly let his hands droop to his sides.

“Hey there. I’m S-” He paused when he finally got a good look at the two and immediately recognized them. Whether it was a good or bad thing, that was up for discussion. “YOU! YOU TWO! OH MY GOD!”

“Uh, Sal?”

“FOR THREE FUCKING YEARS I’VE BEEN CONFUSED AS HELL ABOUT YOU TWO!”

“Sal??”

“I NEED ANSWERS! I’VE HAD THIS ON MY MIND FOR THE PAST THREE YEARS! I NEED TO KNOW. WHY? JUST...WHY?!”

Larry stood there looking at his friend with the most dumbfounded look he could ever give. Sal’s good eye was wide and his mouth twitched as he screamed and exclaimed.

“Dude...did I miss something here?”

Morgan and Bailey gave each other a look and nodded in silent agreement before turning back to the boys.

“You already seemed so distressed, as if you didn’t want to do what you were doing. We’ve known you for a couple years before that day man; we just wanted to make it a little easier on you.”

“You kept mumbling ‘I have no choice’ and we believe you. Especially now being here in the ghost world. You didn’t deserve what happened to you, so we accepted our fates. Plus...not having to deal with bills anymore is  kinda  sweet,” Morgan chuckled. Sal sunk down to the ground again and tugged at his long hair, trying to get a good grasp on what the two were explaining.

“Sal? You okay man?”

“I. ..I  still don’t understand...”

“You wanted to know why, and we told you!”

“But it doesn’t make SENSE! WHY WOULD YOU WILLINGLY WALK INTO THE KNIFE LIKE YOU DID?!”

Larry’s own eyes widened in confusion and looked at the two friends. Their stab wounds were definitely similar in their placements, and the cuts on Bailey’s hands would make sense if she grabbed the knife to hold steady as she walked into it. He guessed that’s what happened anyway. But what about the other cuts on her neck and on Morgan’s head?

“I. ..had  to make sure they really were dead after they walked into the knife...” Okay that made sense.

“Why is everybody so confused?!” Morgan scratched at their head just above where the cut was. “We understood you didn’t have a choice so we decided to welcome death and make the situation a bit better for you.”

“You’re an amazing guy, Sal. You wouldn’t just go on the rampage like that without a reason.” Bailey walked over and crouched down to Sal’s level on the ground to get a better look at his face. “You’re also not bad looking, even with the scars. You’re pretty damn cute!” With a sly smirk towards the tallest of the group, she continued. “You’re a pretty lucky guy, Larry!”

She got up onto her feet again and went back over to Morgan, who fist-bumped their friend with a similar smirk on their face. Larry, on the other hand, was giving the both of them a “what the fuck” look complete with a flushed face. He didn’t even know ghosts COULD get red in the face for whatever reason. Sal looked up at him with even more confusion than he had before.

“Dude...did  _ I  _ miss something?” The two college students giggled to themselves as they turned to start walking back on their path.

“You’ll understand in time, buddy! Now let’s get back to the apartments before all this power runs out and we end up stuck in this prison instead of home.”

Even though both boys were confused out of their minds and still trying to gather themselves about everything that had just happened, they brushed themselves off and followed suit. On the way back, Morgan and Bailey explained how they were able to get Sal and bring Larry along thanks to Rosenburg. They took their time too, if only to let Sal and Larry have some time to be together again before the madness of the cult destruction continued. Even though it wasn’t spoken that that was the reason why they were going slow, both boys were grateful for it. They’d been away from each other for three years and were desperate to have adventures  together  again.

“-and once we get back, Rose and her friend will probably have more tasks for you. But who knows! Hopefully you’ll have time to see everyone and catch up. Chug and Soda miss you like crazy.”

“Yeah, heh, I bet. I still owe Soda that shoulder ride!”

Larry chuckled to himself with loving, lidded eyes at Sal. He was ecstatic to have his best friend back. Maybe Rose would let him stay in the treehouse with him when this was all over. If they were going to stay ghosts forever, maybe he could work up the courage to-

“Larry? You okay man?” he snapped out of his thoughts and looked to Sal.

“Yeah! Yeah of course, I’m peachy! Just...” He relaxed his shoulders and put a gentle hand on Sal’s arm. “Just really happy to have you back.”

Sal’s face became tinged with red; well, redder than his scars already were. Larry’s hand was warm, even for a ghost. Maybe since they were both dead, they could cancel out each other’s ghost-temperature. Is that a thing? Either way, Sal reached up and patted his friend’s hand. Maybe, just maybe, he could tell him finally.

“I’m glad to have you back too, Lar.”

“Ahem!” The two jumped away from each other and turned towards the group leaders. They hadn’t noticed that they had stopped following the other two to have their moment. “We can keep going slow but we can’t stay still in one place for too long. These powers that were lent to us won’t last forever.”

“Sorry, yeah, gotcha, we’re coming!” Sal hurried ahead to join Bailey and chat with her for a bit. As badly as he wanted to tell Larry, now probably wasn’t the best time; especially considering he had just died probably an hour ago. Or, uh, several hours ago. Ghost time passed faster than human time he found.

Larry trudged behind a bit, letting Sal catch up with their friend. Morgan stayed behind to walk next to Larry for a bit.

“So. You  gonna  tell him or what?”

“What?”

“Dude come ON! Just tell him! You’ve had three years to think of what to say to him. You can do it!”

“He doesn’t need this right now. There’s too much going on for him to even start thinking about something as ridiculous as a-”

“Larry FUCKING Johnson I swear if you don’t tell him-”

“Guys?” The two bickering adults looked over to see Sal stopped again. “Everything okay?” Bailey was behind him with the biggest grin on her face, seemingly knowing that the two were going to get progress. Larry, on the other hand, was completely flushed now and sped walked ahead to blow off the conversation.

“Yeah I'm fine let’s just get back to the apartments your dad probably wants to see you again I know my mom will be delighted plus we need to figure out how to stop the demon and-”

“Woah  woah woah , Larry slow down! I can barely understand  you;  you’re talking so fast!”

“Sorry I’m just a little anxious I guess we need to get back soo-”

“Larry.” Sal stepped in front of him and pressed his hands against his friend’s chest to stop him from moving. “Stop bullshitting me. What’s going on?”

Frantically, Larry searched for an outlet. They were outside now, he realized. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Ash still sticking around on her bike, desperately fumbling with her phone.

“ASH! We need to tell Ash what’s going on!”

“Not enough power, dude. Just tell him!”

“But Ash needs to know what’s going on!”

“Lar, we can talk to her later. She’ll probably be on her way back to the apartments in a bit so we need to get there soon. But you need to tell me what’s going on first.” Sal spoke in a calm but serious tone. He could only imagine it was important, but why would Larry be hiding it from him? Didn’t he trust Sal?

Larry once again, said the first thing that popped into his head.

“I’M HALF ALIEN! HAPPY? HAHAHA OKAY LET’S GO!” He tried to walk past Sal, but he stopped him once again.

“No. Nope. That’s not it; I can tell. Besides, I already knew that. I tried telling you and you didn’t believe me.” Oh...yeah. That’s right.

“Larry, if you don’t cut this bullshit right now...” both college students smiled mischievously towards them. “...WE WILL,” they said in unison. It was eerily creepy, as if they were the twins from The Shining. It sent a shiver down Larry’s spine.

“It’s not a big deal, Sal. Really. They’re just making a bigger deal out of it than it really is!”

“Dude, please. Just tell me. I’ve never seen you like this before. You’re usually so up-front with e about everything.” Sal took a step closer to him and continued to stay calm. “Why won’t you tell me?”

Larry felt the non-tears welling up in his eyes. Even though he couldn’t produce water anymore, he wished he could cry so he could get all the emotions out better.

“Because...I don’t  wanna  ruin our friendship.”

What was going ON in his head? Sal feared for the worst, but figured the truth would be better than keeping everything hidden. They’ve been through literal hell and back. They could handle whatever this was. He took a deep breath before continuing the conversation. 

“Whatever it is, I doubt it’ll ruin our friendship. We’ve dealt with murderers, demons, cults, aliens, everything! I think we can survive this too.” He briefly noticed Morgan and Bailey stepping away to give them some space, which he was grateful for.

“It’s just that, well, I’ve tried telling you in the past. But it just went over your head so I figured it would just be best to not mention it again. But then the whole thing with me dying and us attempting to save the apartments and you killing everyone and going to prison and all that happened and I just didn’t think it was a good time to try again. Even with the letter, where I tried again. But we’re still trying to fix all this shit in the afterlife and I don’t think there will ever be a good time and our friendship means more than anything in the world to me and I just...” He stopped his rambling to look down away from Sal. “I don’t want to lose you again.”

Sal took Larry’s hands in his “You won’t lose me. I promise. No matter what it is I’m not going to leave.” Even if Larry wasn’t looking at him, he kept his eye on his best friend.  _ After this, _  he thought.  _ After this, I’ll tell him too. It’s only fair.  _ Larry was shaking and breathing heavily, but he continued on.

“Sal, I...” Even though he didn’t need to breathe as a ghost, holding his breath held more tension in his shoulders than he expected. He had to do it. So. ..he  looked Sal in the eye and confessed. “I love you.”

Sal blinked and Larry freaked.

“I love you, Sal. As more than a bro or a friend. I know you don’t feel the same way and that’s okay.” Sal’s expression was unreadable still. “But I need you to know this. I’m terrified of saying this all to you with everything that’s happened and will happen. You mean the world to me and I don’t  wanna  exist in this world or any world without you. I love you, and I’m not going to be sorry for it.” He let go of Sal’s hands and turned away. “Let’s just go. I told you, now let’s get back to Addison’s. We have a lot to-”

Sal pulled Larry back and threw his arms around his neck, pulling his head down and planting a small kiss on Larry’s lips. It only lasted for a second before he pulled away again and hugged the tall man for dear life.

“What if I told you,” he whispered in Larry’s ear, “that I love you too?” Guess he didn’t have to wait to tell Larry. His friend’s grip around his torso tightened as he felt him laugh in his ear.

“I,  heheh , I can’t tell if you’re being serious or not dude! Are you just,  ya  know, saying this to make me feel better?” He was still stunned by the sudden kiss, but smiled through it anyway. “I mean, I’ll take it either way honestly.” Sal laughed and rested his head on the man’s chest.

“I’m serious, Lar! I’m being truly honestly serious. I’ve loved you for a long time...I just never thought you’d feel the same towards me.”

Larry caressed Sal’s face to look right into the bright ocean eye Sal still had remaining.

“Why wouldn’t I like you back? You’re my whole universe. I meant when I said it in Patterson’s apartment, and in my letter, and I meant it just now. What, did you think I meant it as ‘I love you as a bro-slash-friend'?” Sal blushed at how dumb he was for missing that.

“I. ..see  now why you said it went over my head.” Larry couldn’t help but laugh loudly and wrap his arms around him again. He picked up Sal and spun him around, happier than he’d been in years. Both boys laughed as they spun, finally getting both of their feelings out. Once they stopped, they silenced each other’s laughter with another kiss that lasted a bit longer than the previous. They were both pleasantly surprised that Sal’s scarred mouth didn’t get in the way, but even if it had, neither of them would have cared.

They pulled away from each other and gave each other a silent look of mutual agreement. They didn’t really know how ghost relationships worked, but they were going to figure it out while they saved the world.

A sniffle could be heard from behind and when both boys looked, Morgan and Bailey were practically sobbing. That is, if ghosts COULD sob. They would be bawling their eyes out if they could.

“I’m so proud of you two!” Morgan squeaked.

“They finally did it!” Bailey cried.

While the new boyfriends were embarrassed to have had people watch their little scene, at least it was just two of their friends. Sal rested his head onto Larry again, who rubbed his hand up and down Sal’s back.

“Yeah  yeah . You guys are celebrating now but just two second before this you were threatening my life if I didn’t confess,” Larry laughed it off. “Okay guys, let’s get out of here. Ash looks like she’s just about done on her phone. We should head back finally.” Sal nodded in agreement and clasped hands with his new man.

The quartet of friends continued on their path back to the apartments, small talk filling the void for the time being, now that all the tension was gone.

“When we get back, after everything is over,” Larry whispered to Sal. “Do you want to live in the treehouse with me?” Sal gave a warm toothy grin to the love of his afterlife and nodded.

“Once I kick the red-eyed demon’s ass and save Todd, hell yeah I want to live with you there.” He squeezed Larry’s hand and picked up the pace once he saw Ash catching up to them on her bike. “Right  now  though, babe, I think we need to hurry to the apartments before Ash arrives.”

All four smiled in agreement and sprinted towards another adventure waiting  for  them all back home. 

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written a fan fic in like 4 years??? It feels very strange writing again but it's been a good outlet and this was a lot of fun! I did end up inflicting my own headcanons of the characters into the story, but if you headcanon them differently that's totally chill too. Sorry that the ending there was kinda rushed. I was determined to finish it and my laptop was dying so I wasn't writing my best and I'm too lazy to go back and change it. :P  
> The actual rp my friend and I had was at the end with the whole accepting Sal killing us then having Larry and Sal confess and blah blah blah. I changed a LOT of that rp though to make it fit better. I don't think I'll be writing again after this story, but who knows! Let me know what you guys think! You can follow me on instagram (@ locmochacosplay) and twitter (@ locamocha483) if you want to keep up with my shenanigans!


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